Booze and Buds: Using social media to keep the drinks flowing

The Bakersfield nightlife is plenty active when it comes to various downtown drinking establishments, but some choose to bolster public awareness of their businesses through the use of social media.

Guthrie’s Alley Cat, located 1525 Wall Street, uses their Facebook page to promote a sense of community by highlighting their fans, both locally and globally. Drink specials and special events are also promoted on the page, essentially serving as free advertisements for the company.

Additionally, they spread word of achievements of the staff, such as in a recent post from March 22 congratulating their kick ball team on earning second place for the season.
On the other side of the spectrum, Sandrini’s Bar seems to have given up on its Twitter campaign.

Previousyl, they utilized Twitter to deliver short bursts of information for its customers, providing direct and succinct details such as, “Sunday Funday now Road House night.”

That last message, however, is dated Nov. 22. I’m not sure why the bar has decided not to continue upkeep on their Twitter page, but as even with no updates in approximately six months, they still have 872 followers.

It’s hard to imagine that while the site was being steadily updated, and with the popularity of the bar among the Bakersfield populace, they wouldn’t have had many active followers that relied on the Twitter page to get word of events.

The limited space available to convey a message via twitter allows a company to send rapid-fire announcements throughout the day, directly into the pockets of current and potential customers. If companies become lax in their dedication to social networking, however, it simply boils down to wasted potential.